Environment news

• New way to predict when electric cars and home batteries become cost effective

  10-07-2017 22:45 via feedproxy.google.com
  The future cost of energy storage technologies can now be predicted under different scenarios, thanks to a new tool created by Imperial researchers.Using a large database, the team can predict how much consumers will have to pay in the future for energy storage technologies based on cumulative installed capacity, current cost and future investment.
  
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• Entering the Fast Lane — MXene Electrodes Push Charing Rate Limits in Energy Storage

  10-07-2017 22:39 via feedproxy.google.com
  Can you imagine fully charging your cell phone in just a few seconds? Researchers in Drexel University’s College of Engineering can, and they took a big step toward making it a reality with their recent work unveiling of a new battery electrode design in the journal Nature Energy.The team, led by Yury Gogotsi, PhD,Distinguished University and Bach professor in Drexel’s College of Engineering, in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, created the new elect
  
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• Fossil sheds light on bird evolution after asteroid strike

  10-07-2017 21:30 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Newly-discovered fossil suggests birds evolved very rapidly after the dinosaurs went extinct.
  
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• Earth's sixth mass extinction event under way, scientists warn

  10-07-2017 21:00
  
  Researchers talk of ‘biological annihilation’ as study reveals billions of populations of animals have been lost in recent decadesA “biological annihilation” of wildlife in recent decades means a sixth mass extinction in Earth’s history is under way and is more severe than previously feared, according to research.Scientists analysed both common and rare species and found billions of regional or local populations have been lost. They blame human overpopulation and ov
  
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• Earth's sixth mass extinction event already under way, scientists warn

  10-07-2017 21:00
  
  Researchers talk of ‘biological annihilation’ as new study reveals that billions of populations of animals have been lost in recent decadesA “biological annihilation” of wildlife in recent decades means a sixth mass extinction in Earth’s history is already well underway and is more severe than previously feared, according to new research.Scientists analysed both common and rare species and found billions of regional or local populations have been lost. They blame hu
  
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• Stanford researchers observe unexpected flipper flapping in humpback whales

  10-07-2017 20:54 via feedproxy.google.com
  When Jeremy Goldbogen, an assistant professor of biology at Stanford University, affixed recording devices to humpback whales, it was with the hope of learning more about how the animals move in their natural environment – deep underwater and far from human’s ability to observe.
  
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• No wonder the government tries to hide its emissions reports. They stink | Greg Jericho

  10-07-2017 20:00
  
  As every greenhouse gas emissions report since June 2014 has shown, the end of the carbon price has led to an increase in emissions. What’s the plan, prime minister?Last Friday, the Australian government finally released the latest greenhouse gas emissions report, showing emissions have risen in the past year. When excluding emissions from land use, 2016 saw Australia release a record level of CO2 into the atmosphere. It confirms the failure of the government’s environmental policy a
  
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• Could concrete help solve the problem of air pollution?

  10-07-2017 19:48 via feedproxy.google.com
  Study indicates concrete construction waste can help rid the air of sulfur dioxide, a major pollutant.
  
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• Drilling rig owned by UK fracking firm Cuadrilla 'seriously vandalised'

  10-07-2017 18:37
  
  Derbyshire police say rig was damaged at storage yard in move seemingly intended to slow embryonic shale industry A drilling rig owned by one of the UK’s most prominent fracking firms has been seriously vandalised, in a move seemingly intended to slow down the country’s embryonic shale industry. Derbyshire police said that between 18 and 24 May, a person illegally entered a facility near Chesterfield run by PR Marriott, Britain’s largest onshore deep drilling company, which sto
  
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• When very hungry caterpillars turn into cannibals

  10-07-2017 17:00
  
  Research shows that defensive chemicals emitted by plants cause armyworms to turn on each otherCaterpillars turn into cannibals and eat each other when plants deploy defensive chemicals to make their foliage less appetising, research has revealed.While it was already known that caterpillars of many species munch on each other, and that plants have a range of defence mechanisms, it was not clear whether the two were linked.Continue reading...
  
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• Ministers act to head off revolt over membership of European nuclear regulator

  10-07-2017 16:56
  
  Government considering ‘associate membership’ of group that governs movement of radioactive material across EuropeThe government is drawing up plans to replicate the benefits of remaining a member of the Euratom treaty, which governs the movement of nuclear materials across Europe, in the face of a growing rebellion of Conservative MPs.The Guardian understands that one option being considered is an “associate membership”, similar to that held by Switzerland, or paying mon
  
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• Shells record West Antarctic glacier retreat

  10-07-2017 16:26 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The remains of tiny marine organisms document the wind-driven, warm-water melting in West Antarctica.
  
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• A simple solution for terrible traffic

  10-07-2017 16:14 via feedproxy.google.com
  Cities plagued with terrible traffic problems may be overlooking a simple, low-cost solution: High-occupancy vehicle (HOV) policies that encourage carpooling can reduce traffic drastically, according to a new study co-authored by MIT economists.The results show that in Jakarta, Indonesia, travel delays became 46 percent worse during the morning rush hour and 87 percent worse during the evening rush hour, after an HOV policy requiring three or more passengers in a car was discontinued on importan
  
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• 'You helmets, get a life!': Celebrating 25 years of the Dunwich Dynamo

  10-07-2017 16:05
  
  To celebrate the anniversary of the annual 116 mile night ride, here’s how the night unfolded for one distinctly average rider
  It was the 25th Dunwich Dynamo this weekend, and the fifth ridden by your correspondent.Starting from a park in Hackney, the Dynamo is a madcap 116-ish mile dash from London through the night to the sea-covered remains of a medieval town that was once its rival. Continue reading...
  
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• What is Euratom and why does it matter? | Dan Roberts

  10-07-2017 14:45
  
  Tory rebels are fighting over the UK’s participation in the European atomic energy community. What happens if Britain does quit?Of all the many European collaborations threatened by Brexit, the UK’s participation in the European atomic energy community, Euratom, might seem an odd subject for Tory rebels to pick for their first fight. But the government’s policy on leaving this nuclear safety and research watchdog provides an unusually clear-cut example of the economic pain of t
  
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• Police tactics at fracking protests need urgent review, says MEP

  10-07-2017 13:02
  
  Call for review follows repeated allegations of violence and excessive force by police and security staff at UK sitesRepeated allegations of excessive force by police and security staff against protesters at oil and gas fracking sites across the country have led to a call for an urgent review of police tactics.Lancashire police are investigating an allegation of assault by a security official at the Cuadrilla site at Preston New Road in Lancashire. At other protest sites – including Surrey
  
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• Fido's family tree – in pictures

  10-07-2017 12:50
  
  A new series on Sky 1 traces the ancestry and evolution of the 500 million domesticated dogs worldwide, with biologist Patrick Aryee introducing some of the 36 wild species. Dogs: An Amazing Animal Family airs on Thursdays from 13 to 27 July.All photographs: Offspring Films Continue reading...
  
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• Conservatives are again denying the very existence of global warming | Dana Nuccitelli

  10-07-2017 12:00
  
  The best efforts to undermine the established climate science behind the Endangerment Finding are pathetically bad
  As we well know, climate myths are like zombies that never seem to die. It’s only a matter of time before they rise from the dead and threaten to eat our brains. And so here we go again – American conservatives are denying the very existence of global warming. Continue reading...
  
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• Adani's short-cut operating plan avoids expected $1bn environment bond

  10-07-2017 08:08
  
  Carmichael plan details no mining or construction, which would trigger a Queensland government demand for funds to pay for land rehabilitationAdani has kept an operating plan for its unfunded Queensland mine to just six months, postponing an expected legal obligation to provide a billion-dollar rehabilitation bond before financial backing emerges.The miner has provided the state government with a plan that covers only up to the end of 2017, which falls before its deadline for securing US$2.5bn i
  
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• Gorgeous goats – in pictures

  10-07-2017 08:00
  
  Meet Ben, Bella, Sherlock and Sydney – the elegant goats turned into portraits by Kevin Horan. As the American photographer explains, he just treated them ‘like customers in a small-town photo studio’ Continue reading...
  
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• Just 100 companies responsible for 71% of global emissions, study says

  10-07-2017 07:26
  
  A relatively small number or fossil fuel producers and their investors could hold the key to tackling climate changeJust 100 companies have been the source of more than 70% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions since 1988, according to a new report.
  The Carbon Majors Report (pdf) “pinpoints how a relatively small set of fossil fuel producers may hold the key to systemic change on carbon emissions,” says Pedro Faria, technical director at environmental non-profit CDP, which pu
  
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• Is a car maker about to save the planet? | Zoe Williams

  10-07-2017 07:00
  
  Volvo’s move to electric demonstrates the role ethical business can play in shaping our society for the better• Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist“I think a lot about electric cars,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk famously said at a party at the very end of the 80s. “Do you think a lot about electric cars?” The problem with thinking a lot about electric cars is that certain things become impossible to unthink: powering a car with fossil fuels, meeting 21st-century chall
  
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• Between two shires – a world of difference

  10-07-2017 06:30
  
  Moonshine Gap, Cambridgeshire I watch a bird, listen to its dainty movements, then walk over into Northamptonshire, into the wood and signs of rural mischiefMoonshine Gap: what does that name say? When I saw it on the map it said something probably over-romantic, definitely nefarious, the sort of feature found in literature of the Kentucky backwoods. Or older, when the transit of and sightlines to stellar objects were watched, noted and sometimes immortalised. Seemed a stretch for this place.Gap
  
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